I have always enjoyed the movies from down South. They have some serious story telling techniques that are literally unmatched in the country. But having said that, lately the movies from down south have been a bit of a mixed bag. While there were gems like Middle Class Melodies and Andhaghaaram, there were some duds like Mane Number 13. As we are staring at another weekend with umpteen new releases, on the onset of it releases the Telugu Film Bombhaat on Amazon Prime. With little to no publicity, it is a rather quiet release. Does it have enough spark to keep the audience invested, stay tuned.

Bombhaat is the story of Vicky who is ill-fated right from birth. All he does is bring bad luck – from his parents to his girlfriend, his life is jinxed. Soon he stumbles upon a Professor who has a startling discovery up his sleeve. The movie opens with a quote from Alfred Hitchcock – where logic starts, drama ends, where drama starts the logic ends. So the makers have made it clear at the very beginning that don’t expect any remote logic here. So you are made aware of what you have signed up for. The story is decent. I was expecting an entertaining screenplay, sadly the entertainment quotient is few and far between. The film begins on a good note with the subject of ‘bad luck’ introduced in a comic manner. So you do manage to chuckle. But the moment the love story starts things begin to fall apart. The sequences with the mad scientist are also not very well executed. Just when you start to lose interest, the twist at the halfway stage in an excellent action sequence catches your attention. But soon after things go downhill again with a few laughs here and there. The action sequences in the second hour are good too. The climax is underwhelming. The screenplay could have been much better than this, they had a good subject to play with. The dialogues are decent. The BGM and particularly the music are good here and provide some respite from an insipid drama. The VFX needed to be good here, sadly it is at best average. Director Raghavendra Varma hasn’t quite nailed the drama. His direction lacks execution and has got entangled in the web of whether this story was supposed to be a sci-fi or a comedy or a thriller. It is neither sadly.

The performances save the film to an extent. Vineet Kumar as Dada is quite good. Makrand Deshpande as the mad scientists provides some mad moments. Shishir Sharma as Professor Acharya is good too. Chandini Chowdary who was last seen in the excellent Colour Photo looks so pretty as Chaitra and has done a fabulous job. Simran Chowdary as Maya is the pick of the actors for me. Her action sequences especially hand to hand combats are the highlight here and her acting is amazing. Sri Sushanth Reddy as Vicky has also done a swell job, his innocence is on full display here. And his comic timing is good too.

Bombhaat has some good performances to offer but its uninspiring writing is its major flaw. What could have been an entertaining joyride is at best a missed opportunity. Available On Amazon Prime.